Bruins Beat: No deadline deals for B's

Wednesday

Feb 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMFeb 27, 2008 at 10:20 AM

BOSTON - With the team finally moving in the right direction, the Bruins opted to make no moves yesterday as the NHL trading deadline came and went. It's a novel approach for a club that has tinkered with its lineup with at least one deadline deal every year since 2002.

Douglas Flynn/Daily News staff

With the team finally moving in the right direction, the Bruins opted to make no moves yesterday as the NHL trading deadline came and went.

It's a novel approach for a club that has tinkered with its lineup with at least one deadline deal every year since 2002. But a change of direction might be just what the Bruins need, as they've failed to reach the postseason since 2004 and haven't won a playoff series since 1998.

Boston hopes to end both of those droughts this spring. Thanks to a recently-completed 4-0-1 road trip, the Bruins entered last night clinging to the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference, though they were just a single point from falling out of playoff position.

But the group that general manager Peter Chiarelli put together over the summer and coach Claude Julien has molded into a cohesive unit this winter will have a chance to finish what they've started together.

"It shows confidence in us as a group," said forward Shawn Thornton. "We've got a good bunch of guys here. I think we know we have a good team. Management has shown that much confidence in us, so now we've got to go out and prove them right."

They started last night with an impressive 4-0 win over Ottawa, moving up to sixth in the conference and within six points of the Senators for the Northeast Division lead - with two games in hand and three head-to-head matchups with Ottawa remaining.

"The bottom line is you're always trying to improve your team," said Julien. "Sometimes it's via trade and sometimes making your team good is not necessarily touching it. I think the bottom line is as a coach you trust the people above you to do the right things for your hockey club."

For Chiarelli, the right thing at this time was to do nothing, even as the rest of the league engaged in the usual flurry of activity at the annual last-minute swap meet. The 25 deals consummated match the league record set in each of the last two years, with the 45 players changing sweaters just one off the mark set back in 2004. Only three other teams stayed out of the trading frenzy yesterday, and two of them - Philadelphia and Calgary - had swung deals in the past week.

"It was a long day," said Chiarelli. "We put in a lot of time. ... We went into this trade deadline wanting to improve our team, but at the same time we have a plan in place whereby I want to continue to try to inject our youth into the lineup."

Chiarelli held on to all of his prized youngsters, but that doesn't mean he didn't kick the tires on a few potential deals, though he refused to identify the targets of his trade talks.

"We targeted two basic transactions," said Chiarelli. "Obviously they ended up going somewhere else. We spent most of the day on those transactions, and they would have bettered our team. In one of them, they ended up asking for too much, and in the other I still don't know why we didn't get it done because the other GM never got back to me."

Based on the team's recent track record at the deadline, this year's conservative approach may have been prudent. Last year, Chiarelli gave up Brad Boyes (currently 10th in the league with 32 goals; no Bruin has more than 20) for Dennis Wideman, while predecessor Mike O'Connell failed to cash in his chips as a seller in 2006 and didn't fare better as a buyer in 2004 when he paid a premium to land Sergei Gonchar and Michael Nylander just before the deadline, only to see Boston choke in the opening round of the playoffs and have both acquisitions walk as free agents.

Rentals haven't worked out well for many teams, as Nashville and Atlanta both mortgaged their future last year to land Peter Forsberg and Keith Tkachuk, respectively, only to flame out in the playoffs.

That didn't stop other teams trying the tactic again this year, most notably Pittsburgh. The Penguins, who pay a visit to the Garden tomorrow night, acquired high-scoring forward Marian Hossa from Atlanta, but had to give up young regulars Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen, prized prospect Angelo Esposito and a first-round pick. They coughed up that bounty even though the Pens will be hard-pressed to sign Hossa after the season with so much of their cap earmarked to keep stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

"I am surprised," said Chiarelli of the price Pittsburgh paid for Hossa. "I thought at least the talk amongst us at the GM meetings (last week) was that we had all commented that 'Gee, those prices were high last year, we can't do that again,' but there's always a team that's going to pay that amount.

"And they've got a heck of a team. They'll get Crosby back (from an ankle injury) too. That's going to be two serious lines they'll have and one serious power play. We'll get to see it Thursday night."

The Bruins will have to deal with Hossa tomorrow, but they don't have to worry about the two other biggest stars to move, as Brian Campbell and Brad Richards both were dealt to the Western Conference. Skilled defenseman Campbell went from Buffalo to San Jose, while former Conn Smythe winner Richards headed to Dallas from Tampa Bay.

"I was happy that they went out West," said Chiarelli. "Brian Campbell is a tremendous player, having him go to the other conference is good. Richards, also. We look at what the other teams do and we try to be somewhat aggressive in matching up, but we could see there wasn't much going on in the East."

There was some movement in the East. Every other team in Boston's division made deals, but Ottawa's acquisition of former Bruin grinder Martin LaPointe was the only addition. Toronto traded away another former Bruin and Bolton native Hal Gill, along with fellow role players Chad Kilger and Wade Belak for picks. Buffalo gave up Campbell and Montreal made the most stunning move by trading veteran goalie Cristobal Huet to Washington for a second-round pick in 2009.

The Capitals also added veteran forwards Sergei Fedorov and Matt Cooke as they look to make a playoff push after starting the day five points out of the eighth spot.

The Bruins know the dangers of making such radical changes down the stretch. This season, they've taken a different approach and kept the same players together in the hope that the budding chemistry will be more beneficial than another infusion of new blood.

"I think we've made some progress this year," said veteran forward P.J. Axelsson. "The young guys are playing really good and the older guys that were here last year have stepped up a little bit. So I think they showed some confidence in us. ... I think everyone in here wanted to show that they did the right thing."

(Douglas Flynn covers the Bruins for the Daily News. He can be reached at dflynn@cnc.com or 508-626-4405.)

Market Place

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, MA ~ 33 New York Ave., Framingham, MA 01701 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service